How to Use Facebook During Divorce

Social media, particularly platforms like Facebook and Instagram, play major roles in the lives of many people. You may be among those women and men who use Facebook with regularity. If you are considering ending your marriage, you need to recognize the proper way to use Facebook during divorce. With this in mind, there are a number of specific points you are wise to ponder:

• Facebook posts can become admissible evidence in a New Jersey divorce case
• Who should you block on Facebook?
• Who should you unfriend on Facebook?
• Dealing with Facebook spouse stalking issues
• Do not post about your divorce

When it comes to Facebook during divorce, posts made at this platform are admissible during New Jersey marriage dissolution proceedings. In other words, you may end up posting something on your Facebook page that is against your interests, that item may be used against you in your divorce case.

You need to bear in mind that this includes items that you might post during the course of divorce proceedings. However, this can also include items that you have posted in the past. Even if you attempt to delete things you’ve posted on Facebook that you believe might be harmful to you in your divorce case, you need to be aware that they may have been preserved via screenshots by your spouse.

As you begin the marriage dissolution process, when thinking of Facebook during divorce, you might identify certain people that you may want to block from your account. For example, if you have a Facebook friend that is an aggressive supporter of your spouse in regard to your marriage ending, you might want to consider blocking such an individual.

A less severe step is unfriending some individuals that you are finding are not helpful in regard to the matter of your divorce. For example, they might be posting things that are unintentionally hurtful to you and seem intent on not stopping doing so. Should you desire to do so after your divorce case is concluded, you can always reach out to them with a friend request again.

One surprisingly rather frequently occurring scenario is the stalking of a party to a divorce via Facebook. For example, you may find that your soon-to-be ex-spouse is using Facebook as a tool to inappropriately keep track of you.

There are a number of ways in which you can temper or prevent this type of conduct. First, you can initiate very tight Facebook privacy settings. You can also restrict who is able to read or see individual posts that you put on your page. You can also use the blocking or unfriending protocols available through the Facebook platform.

If this type of activity becomes particularly egregious, let your lawyer know what is happening so that he or she can take proper steps on your behalf. This may include bringing this to the attention of the court. Depending on the facts and circumstances, some type of restraining order might be appropriate.

You lawyer may advise you of this directly, however it warrants mentioning now. When it comes to Facebook during divorce, a fair and reasonable recommendation is that you do not post about your marriage dissolution case.

Posting about your divorce can open you up to items that can be used against you in the case itself. Even if such posts do not provide evidence for the opposition, Facebook posts have been known to enflame emotions. In the final analysis, marriage dissolutions have the potential for being emotional as is and emotions do not need to be unnecessarily enflamed as a result of social media posts.

If you are thinking about divorce, you likely have a wide array of questions. You can schedule an initial consultation with a divorce lawyer from our firm by calling (201) 845-7400.